Nobilis of War

The Twelve Great Witchers finally came to the decision to enter and formed a star radiance array, chanting in an ancient and obscure language.

Green flames danced in their eyes as countless runes swished around them.

It didn't take long before the magma beneath the ground was lit by the glow of the green light.

Their hands moved faster and faster until they were nothing more than a blur to Darren and he could not see their movements clearly. As it stood, powerful and weird Witcher Power was going to envelope the black sphere and there was no stopping it.

Boom!

The boiling magma began rumbling like an earthquake about to create a tsunami of lava. It began rolling and surging until it broke through the ground and bubbled through.

Thousands of streams of lava erupted into the void all at once. Thick plumes of smoke billowed out and covered the entire area, turning it to a hellish landscape.

The blaring noises quickly attracted the attention of some powerful abyss creatures.

"We need to hurry. We've been spotted by those powerful creatures."

The Twelve Great Witchers exchanged looks of acknowledgement, they knew what they had to do. They had to increase their Witcher Power in order to open the door leading to the inner section of the black sphere. They needed this done as soon as possible.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

A massive hoard of powerful creatures could be seen in the distance, stampeding toward them. They all wanted to know what was going on here.

"This is bad. If we go on like this, we will attract the attention of that master as well."

Although the Twelve Great Witchers were indeed powerful, they were still not powerful enough to take on the chief god's projection. If they were detected, he would not doubt whip and fling them out.

The Witcher Power became more violent and crashed into the surface of the black sphere, completely wrapping its surface.

Suddenly, a huge shadow flashed out of the sphere; it was a shadow of a skeleton in a black robe, holding a sickle in one hand.

Whoosh!

The shadow swung the sickle over the Great Witchers, who hurriedly gathered their Witcher Power to block it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With this, and being attacked by the black aura on the sickle at the same time, the array of the Twelve Great Witchers almost collapsed.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Underground, the first batch of the abyss creatures that was making their way over to investigate had arrived.

On the frontline were three pangolin-looking monsters with spikes all over their heads. Their auras were quite clearly not weak, at least on par with the masters of the top level of the Deputy God Realm, like Todd.

Darren's heart sank as his hope began to fade. If the Twelve Great Witchers were taken out before they entered the ball, he would follow closely behind them and die on the spot too.

But the Great Witchers were unfazed and ignored the creatures rushing at them. The green flames in their eyes sprung around more wildly now, ready to burst forth.

The ancient songs were now sung more and more intensely, more focused.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The three spiky creatures charged over, crashing right into a transparent wall. A large number of runes collapsed with every impact.

They were slowly but surely breaking through the enchanted barrier the Great Witchers had set up as protection.

Darren was inside the barrier and yet he could still feel the massive force coming from the impacts.

The Great Witchers were still working hard, doing their best to open the door of the sphere. A moment later, more and more powerful creatures were arriving. The enemies were stacking up. They continued colliding hard with the barrier, more of them joining in on the mad charge. They seemed possessed to not stop until they had been shattered to pieces. Nothing else would satisfy them. Despite the relentless attacks, the barrier held for a quarter of an hour.

"The enchanted barrier is on the brink of collapse! We have to do something now!"

Seeing the barrier's collapse was imminent, the Great Witchers shot out twelve streams of powerful Witcher Power that penetrated through the barrier and washed over the abyss creatures like an inescapable torrent of power.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

The creatures were in a mess from the attack. At least dozens of them had been tainted by the Witcher Power and had almost instantaneously been mummified!

"Wow!" Darren exclaimed with widened eyes. He was surprised to discover that the Witcher Power could be so overwhelming.

The Great Witchers still had most of their attention focused on the black sphere. If they actually attacked with all their strength, there was little doubt that all the abyss creatures would lose their lives in a flash. However, the death of some of the creatures didn't deter or slow down the rest.

More and more powerful creatures swarmed in, bulldozing into the enchanted barrier and dashing against it desperately.

Crack!

A bolt of lightning struck out in the void, splitting the thick clouds as it burst through. A pair of dark gold eyes scanned everything below menacingly.

"Damn it!"

The Great Wicthers' leader began to panic. What he feared most had come to fruition.

No other creature except for the chief god's projection was a problem. They'd be doomed once he found them.

Even if all twelve of them summoned all their might, they would still be unable to withstand several attacks from the projection.

What was worse was that a great deal of their Witcher Power had already been consumed; it might be difficult to hold off even one attack from the chief god's projection.

It was imperative that they opened the black sphere; it was their only way to survive.

They would have already opened it if the skeleton shadow in black hadn't appeared on the sphere and slowed their progress.

"Darren, kill the evil witcher's shadow," yelled the leader of the Great Witchers.

They had no choice but to place their hopes on Darren as they were actually afraid of physical attacks.

"Me?" Darren asked, surprised and blindsided.

"Yes, go all out in your attack. We will help you."

It was impossible for a martial artist to attack a witcher of the same level without the help of other witchers or powerful rule cultivators. Even if the witcher was one or two levels lower, the martial artist would still not stand a chance.

"You got it!"

Darren's life depended on this as well. He had to fight. It was the only way.

Whoosh!

Darren darted over and landed ten feet from the huge shadow, protected by the Witcher Power.

Shoop! Shoop! Shoop!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The prefect sword tracks and domineering blade shadows were shot out from Darren's sword and blade, and the black god's power rushed at the huge shadow like a tumbling waterfall.

As Darren launched his attack, the Twelve Great Witchers backed him up, also attacking with all their strength, while protecting him as well.

But the one with dark gold eyes would not give them any chance or whiff of hope.

First he locked his god's sense on Darren. The Defiant Master who had escaped him twice was finally in front of him again.

He would not, no matter the cost, let him get away this time.

Nine streaks of dark golden light beamed out towards Darren and the Great Witchers. The mighty defense power it contained overwhelmed Darren and suffocated him. The power was so breathtaking he felt he might be crushed by it.

It was not just Darren and the Great Witchers; the other powerful creatures that had gathered could not take it either. They crawled across the ground trembling or scrambled away desperately, trying to escape the intense force. A few seconds later, the entire place had been emptied, as if an autumn wind swept through, taking all the withered leaves away with it.

They would not dare risk bearing the anger of the one with the pair of dark gold eyes.

Darren had already launched hundreds of attacks in a row. His god's power was already depleted.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Finally, they seemed to have done enough and the huge shadow collapsed under the impact of the Witcher Power and Darren's black god's power.

At the same time, the sphere cracked and a door slowly opened.

Darren was so anxious that it seemed as though the door took ten thousand years to open.

But it was already too late! The chief god's projection's attack was already rushing at them.

Crack.

The enchanted barrier was destroyed effortlessly, shattering to tiny shards.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The golden patterns on the Twelve Great Witchers' black robes seemed to come to life.

The gleaming golden light turned to countless runes that condensed into a huge shield, protecting the Twelve Great Witchers.

Boom! Boom!

The first dark gold light exploded and covered the golden shield in cracks streaking across it and causing the Great Witchers to spew out green blood as it hit.

"Let's go!"

The Great Witchers' bodies twisted and morphed into twelve green lights, rushing towards the black sphere's crack with Darren.

Bang!

The golden shield exploded and all the magma from underground erupted, destroying the earth for millions of kilometers around.

"Ah!"

A frustrated roar rang out in every corner. The chief god's projection was furious. The damn Defiant Master had slipped right through his fingers once again.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐